The Struggle for Democracy: A Discussion

By Karl Dennis

During the past century the idea of socialism was extensively spread throughout the world. Within a short period of time, developing socialism succeeded in eliminating poverty, hunger, unemployment, homelessness and lack of access to healthcare and education in a vast area of the globe.

Following the Russian Revolution, Soviet society took giant steps toward economic industrialization and development within the span of less than three decades, transformed itself from an underdeveloped capitalist country into an advanced industrial society and became an economic power second only to the United States. The successes and the increased material and moral authority of socialism in the world had a significant impact on the economic, political and social life in capitalist countries.

The inevitability of socialism arises out of the inner essence and the contradictory nature of the capitalist system itself. No temporary setback, regardless of how disastrous it may be, can refute this inevitability.

From the Marxist point of view, the working class, by eliminating all forms of class exploitation and all exploiting classes, removes all obstacles from the natural path of the substitution of the old by the new, and thus guarantees the continuous growth and development of society's forces of production.

Karl Marx wrote that, "socialism is the first phase of a communist society ... just as it emerges from the capitalist society [and is] in every respect, economically, morally and intellectually, still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges."

What are these birthmarks inherited from capitalism? They include personal greed, lack of class consciousness, social prejudices, much miseducation and limited knowledge, etc. The productive forces have not yet reached the ability to satisfy the Communist tenet, "To each according to their needs."

Due to the differences that exist in the abilities and capabilities of individuals, the principle of equality, one of the fundamental features of a developed Communist society, cannot be recognized as an objective for the socialist society in its early stages. Socialism's "to each according to their contribution," which is based on inequality among producers, intentionally promotes such inequality. There is a historical and scientific reason for this.

The qualitative difference between this planned inequality within the socialist system and the inequality that characterizes the capitalist mode of production lies in the public appropriation of the surplus value (profit) generated under socialism. This surplus, after some deductions for such socially necessary expenses as the administration of the state, maintenance of public order, etc., is transferred to a "social consumption fund."

The social consumption fund is used for improving the living standards of society as a whole and for providing social services for all members of the society in a universal and equal manner without regard to the quantity or quality of their work.

It is here, the social consumption fund, and not at the level of production, that the Communist principle of "to each according to their needs" is at work from the very first phases of socialist development.

The growth of the Communist sector within the womb of the socialist economy is a direct function of the continuous increase in the productivity of labor. Thus, with the development of socialism, as the share of free, universal benefits grow, society gradually moves away from the principle "to each according to their contribution" and approximates the Communist principle of "to each according to their needs."

"To each according to their contribution" makes socially useful labor the only source of income for all members of society. At the same time, what is returned to the producers in the form of wages compensates them for only a portion of what they have produced for society. The remainder of the value they produced is turned into public property by the state and is deposited in society's public fund.

Therefore, in the early phases of Communist society not only does the exploitation of human labor (not in the form of class exploitation, of course) continue in a socialist process of production, but is indeed consciously intensified.

A socialist society, no longer requiring maximum personal profit for management and owners, has no need to keep people separate and combating each other. Instead, it becomes important to unite people in a common effort to improve their lot and justice is sought for those previously discriminated against.

Karl Dennis is a reader in Arizona. This article is part of the discussion leading up to the Communitst Party's Convention July 6-8.